“All over the place, from the popular culture to the propaganda system, there is constant pressure to make people feel that they are helpless, that the only role they can have is to ratify decisions and to consume.”
-Noam Chomsky

Around the turn of the century (in fact, a decade or two before even), there was a particularly interesting group of men and women who saw this coming. This was a time when the government-corporation complex was a blatant, obvious truth; a system that touted capitalism as freedom. Huge corporations were given handouts by the government in the form of land, tax breaks, and subsidies that would build upon their almost unfathomable wealth, creating a constantly growing inequality between the rich and the poor.
The wobblies, a labor activist group during this time, later to form as the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) in 1905, saw this inequality and wanted to make a difference.

“The working class and the employing class have nothing in common. There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among millions of the working people and the few, who make up the employing class, have all the good things of life. Between these two classes a struggle must go on until the workers of the world organize as a class, take possession of the means of production, abolish the wage system, and live in harmony with the Earth. … Instead of the conservative motto, ‘A fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work’, we must inscribe on our banner the revolutionary watchword, ‘Abolition of the wage system.’ It is the historic mission of the working class to do away with capitalism.”
-Preamble to the IWW constitution

In order to preserve and further workers’ rights, they would show up en masse at strikes, boycotts, or demonstrations, requiring the authorities to arrest all of them if one was arrested. Once the jails were crowded with wobblies, singing loudly, they would either be released with their demands met or busted out by other singing, protesting wobblies. Some met, as other great men and women in all over the country did, their death fighting for the freedoms we now enjoy today.
The most important aspect of this group was their grass-roots foundation. People joined because they cared. They were one of the first labor organizations to accept anyone who wanted to join, regardless of race, profession, or sex. They understood that segregation was a tool of politicians and businessmen to keep the opposing (lower) classes at each others’ throats while they conduct business as usual.
In using the name “wobblies,” we are not intending to either align ourselves with current IWW ideals or put on a front of intense political activism. We simply want those of you who want to be involved with the success of our band also be involved with the success of your own communities. We want you guys to be able to organize and inform each other, as well as us, if there is an issue that needs attention, a band that needs help, or a mouth that needs feeding. We can make a positive influence in this world. Not by complaining or pointing fingers, but by speaking out and taking action. We should show our respect to those who fought for the eight hour work day (with the guns of federal troops pointed at them) by using our God-given talents and passions to create goodness in the world. Everyone has something to give, and if we can focus on the world we live in rather than the world the media wants us to BELIEVE we live in, we can isolate the issues we are dealing with and give all we have to create an honest, decent, sustainable society.

If you are interested in joining the street team to help promote our shows, please send us your email from the sign-up box on the right panel. Feel free to use the forum to discuss local issues and upcoming shows of other bands as well. Check the calender for events in your area. Send us an email at abewobblies@gmail.com with the location, name, and description of your event and we will post it for other users to view.
-Moose, ABE

“37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
-Jesus

If there is a goal here, which I firmly believe that there is, for me it would be to create something enlightening and hopefully therefore pro-active. It is an audacious and lofty ambition to create positive change, but I know A Billion Ernies has it in their minds and hearts to do so.

We (ABE & Community Records) believe that it is impossible to create this positive change without the active participation and influence of a group of individuals. The Wobblies have been initiated to facilitate that change and promote a platform for ideas and true movement.

There is A LOT of talk about positive change, with little action that follows. I personally have been hungering for some legitimate reform. I know this group will create some of that reform in the actualization of such things as: community food sharing, the sharing of D.I.Y. ideas, actions to circumvent BIG government and selfish capitalism, the promotion of art and appreciation for those things provided by God, and the promotion of autonomy.

With these somewhat vague things, tangible action can be created through personal change. Through a discourse and a bit of intellectual exploration we can craft lives that work towards not be shackled by what other people want for us. Through this we can find what we need for ourselves.

Thanks and Peace.
-Greg Rodrigue
Community Records